Buy it... if you have already established an affinity for Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and seek a thematically faithful
extension of that sound with a little more instrumental spice,
primordial hysteria, and exotic mysticism.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: (James Horner)
Shock and dismay had overwhelmed the nucleus of "Star Trek" fans in
1982; by the conclusion of the otherwise popular Star Trek II: The
Wrath of Khan, Spock was dead, and a beloved fixture of the
television show and first two films was gone. Before production on
Star Trek II could even be finished, the uproar over such a
potential outcome was realized by the series' producers, and the bulk of
the third film was devoted to bringing the character back to life. The
film also re-introduced the long-awaited Klingons into the mix and gave
life to the cloaking Bird of Prey, a stylish vessel which would become
the most recognizable class of "Star Trek" ship outside of the
Federation for mainstream audiences. After a resurrected Spock is
rescued from the rapidly aging Genesis planet and the Enterprise is
destroyed, he joins his former crew aboard the Bird of Prey to save a
pair of whales (and thus the Earth) in Star Trek IV: The Voyage
Home, creating a tight, continuous trilogy within the franchise's
second through fourth films. As a story, Star Trek III achieved
its main goals as a bridge, setting the original cast back in motion and
preparing the way for a newly designed Enterprise in the next film. As
the series took a respite from dark melodramatics, actor Leonard Nimoy
once again served as director to point the concept in the direction of
comedy in Star Trek IV before unsuccessfully tackling the
troubles of the universe at large in the extremely inferior fifth entry.
With Nimoy at the helm for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
(his screen time is obviously held to a minimum anyway), he was inclined
to hire his friend Leonard Rosenman to provide the score; the producers,
however, insisted upon maintaining continuity between the second and
third films by re-hiring composer James Horner for the direct
continuation of the narrative. Horner's music for the previous film had
been a stunning success for the newcomer, a harsh, but bold sea-faring
score worthy of spirited adventures in space.

Not only had Horner utilized Alexander Courage's original
television theme and revisited Jerry Goldsmith's Blaster Beam effect for
Star Trek II, but he had also integrated a Spock-specific theme
into the second film that could be elaborated upon as a central Vulcan
idea in the third one. It's intriguing to recall that in 1984, Horner
had established himself as the "Star Trek" franchise composer, briefly
unseating Goldsmith. Despite Horner's affinity for the concept at the
time, reportedly jumping at the chance to score Star Trek III,
the younger composer's career would outgrow (so to speak) the "Star
Trek" universe after this installment, and he would turn down several
opportunities (according to the composer) to bring his sweeping theme
back for another "Star Trek" film. Nimoy, thus, would finally have his
chance to bring Rosenman into the franchise for Star Trek IV.
Even though history has not been kind to opinions of Star Trek
III as a film, Horner's score has not been completely to blame for
that dissatisfaction. The Klingon commander, Lord Kruge, despite
Christopher Lloyd's welcome theatrics, was simply no match for Khan as a
villain, and the filmmakers resorted to the death of a minor character
and the self-destruction of the Enterprise to carry interest beyond the
simple resurrection of Spock. Horner picked up right where he had left
off with Star Trek II, reprising nearly all of his thematic
structures. He increased the size and scope of his performing ensemble,
however, to include a collection of worldly specialty instruments,
highlighted by ethnic horns and cimbalom. These elements mostly apply to
the Klingon material in the score, though they also extend to scenes
involving the Enterprise to accentuate the rogue behavior of its
mischievous crew (the cimbalom in "Stealing the Enterprise" is a
memorable highlight). For enthusiasts of the previous score, Horner does
not shy away from reprising grandiose, string-dominated thematic
statements. He begins the prologue of the third film with the same
contemplative tone that finished the Star Trek II before
launching into the recognizable sea-worthy title theme for the
franchise, a broad identity for the Enterprise that continues to rival
Goldsmith's in quality.

Horner's application of the iconic ship's theme in Star
Trek III is drenched with feelings of lamentation, from its arrival
in space dock to its fiery destruction. It's interesting that he had
originally scored its demise and aftermath without the full Enterprise
identity, though much of his rumbling approach was left out of the film
anyway. Also returning is Kirk's adventurous theme from the previous
film, peppered throughout "Stealing the Enterprise" and heard in
confrontational snippets later in the story before anchoring the end
titles sequence. The slightly exotic, but attractively majestic theme
for Spock and the Vulcans occupies a significant role in the score;
their mysticism is accentuated by a electronic aiding of the orchestra
in order to create a religious ambience for the Katra ritual that occurs
at the end of the film. The theme is gorgeously explored by the full
ensemble (with some synthetic help) in "Returning to Vulcan," and while
the idea would be sadly missing in its entirety in the lackluster
Star Trek IV score by Rosenman, Cliff Eidelman strongly suggests
it in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. When not carried by
solo woodwind, glassy instrumental effects create the tone for this
idea, and in "The Mind Meld" and "The Katra Ritual," its statements are
obscured by a whimsical atmosphere. The only significantly new
development from Horner for Star Trek III is the primitively
clanging theme for the brutish, haphazard Klingons. Horner handles this
disgruntled group of glory-seeking warriors with a percussive rhythmic
approach that resembles the striking, banging style of Khan's theme, but
far less focused. Some of the underlying instrumentation and rhythmic
propulsion carries over from Goldsmith's original theme for the species.
Horner's actual melody for the Klingons is oddly oriental in style while
also maintaining a very unsophisticated edge. A solo Tibetan horn wails
away at will, without any guidance or attention to clear tone (and
apparently guided only by how much breath the player has at a given
moment), and this usage may or may not ruin the theme for fans who like
the crisp performances of Goldsmith's established Klingon theme. That
said, Horner's Klingon representation has a certain amount of quirky
funk to it that better exposes the grungy and sloppy side of Klingon
warrior life. And the Tibetan horn effect is extremely distinctive at
the very least.

Some critics of the film have laughed off Horner's
attempt to score the Klingons, and there is reason to understand why
they ridicule it; with all the banging of silverware in that theme, one
would think that it's constantly dinnertime. The theme's application in
"Bird of Prey Decloaks" produces a highlight of the score when set
against with the other elements, however. In the end, the most positive
aspect of Star Trek III relates to its mere continuity with the
previous score. Even though it cannot compete with Star Trek II
in terms of quality, this score wins considerable praise for its ability
to offer a consistent system of themes and orchestrations with the
previous one. The recording quality of the two scores is remarkably
similar, except perhaps for the two longer Klingon sequences, which
sound dull because of the bass-dominating instrumentation chosen for the
cues. The score follows the trademark of making a magnificent thematic
announcement as the Entrprise leaves drydock. In this case, the ship is
being stolen, and the chase cue for the Enterprise and Excelsior is rich
with action motifs recognizable from Star Trek II's late action
sequences, including the score's only really obvious use of Goldsmith's
original Blaster Beam effect (it's elsewhere, too, but not prominent).
This cue's optimistic opening string figures (foreshadowing
Willow's whimsy but ultimately removed from the film version of
the cue) and references to the prior score and Courage's theme make it a
highlight despite containing some ideas inspired by (i.e. damn near
copied from) Sergei Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, which is an
element of frustration here more so than in Star Trek II. The
Courage theme is also employed in a much fuller statement than usually
heard in the franchise of films, gracing the renewed Spock's reunion
with his friends with a satisfying electronic woodwind performance.
Negative criticism of the score, outside of some listeners' obvious
distaste for the Klingon theme (the pitch-defying horns really are
obnoxious there's no way around that truth), relates to the replacement
of Khan's action music with an emphasis on the more subdued,
contemplative Vulcan material. While it contains plenty of potential,
that music doesn't achieve the magnitude of fantasy and awe as needed,
and thus, the lengthy mind meld and Katra ritual cues suffer from some
disappointing anonymity. They play as though Horner was addressing the
mystery of the events rather than the Old World sense of drama
associated with this glimpse into Vulcan society.

On album, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
has never been as attractive of a product as its predecessor. The
original 1991 CD translation of the LP record from GNP Crescendo is
outdated (though more expensive on the secondary market after it went
out of print), with archival sound quality and a running time of about
40 minutes. The end credits suite has always been missing the iconic
dialogue from Spock and instead listeners of the GNP product were
treated to an awkward and completely out of place pop rendition of
Horner's title theme. It's not entirely clear who took credit for
green-lighting this atrocious adaptation with cheesy 1980's pop band
elements. While Horner may have been responsible for it, the badly dated
track sounds suspiciously similar to something that GNP's Neil Norman
would produce with his band. After Film Score Monthly threw the
Paramount vault doors open with authority when the specialty label
released Star Trek II in 2009, it was highly likely that similar
superior treatment of Star Trek III would follow. Thankfully, the
next year, it did. The 2010 edition of Star Trek III, again an
unlimited pressing by FSM's Retrograde Records branch, features the same
outstanding production qualities that Star Trek II enjoyed. There
wasn't as much unreleased material of much value from the third film's
score; most related to variations on the Klingon and Vulcan music. The
most important addition is "The Klingon's Plan," a short cue that opens
with 30 seconds of deep woodwinds that obviously inspired Eidelman for
Star Trek VI and a Goldsmith-like organ and horn passage for the
introduction of the Grissom. But there were some significant changes to
the score reflected in differences between the album and film versions
of various major cues, and FSM's 2-CD set, while able to fit the whole
score comfortably on a single CD, provides both listening experiences
(with some overlap in cases where edits or takes did not differ). They
are also remastered with impressive results, too, even in the somewhat
dull Klingon sequences. Regardless of its albums, the Star Trek
III score is still not as strong as its predecessor by any means of
comparison, and a potential buyer with a tight budget should definitely
investigate Star Trek II first. Ultimately, Nimoy got to frolic
with Rosenman for his lone, awkward entry, and Goldsmith gladly took
back musical authority over the series in subsequent years, but Horner's
two contributions to the concept are fondly remembered for their lofty
title theme, their continuity and, perhaps most importantly, their
enthusiastic performances. Decades later, few franchises embody the same
raw spirit of adventure. @Amazon.com: CD or
Download

Music as Written for the Film: ***

Music as Heard on the 1991 GNP Album: ***

Music as Heard on the 2010 FSM Album: ****

Overall: ***

Bias Check:

For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.16
(in 103 reviews)and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 192,659 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

* contains original television theme by Alexander Courage
** differs from version used in the film
*** not composed by James Horner

NOTES AND QUOTES

The 1991 GNP Crescendo album's insert includes a note about Horner's career
up to 1990, as well as a synopsis of the film's plot (with spoilers! dang!). The
2010 Film Score Monthly album contains extensive notation about the film and score,
as well as a wealth of artwork in an attractive design.